Coos County commissioners and Oregon Resources Corp., the Portland-based company that will mine chromite in the county, are at a stalemate over road maintenance.

The sticking point is an estimated $2.75 million Oregon Resources would have to pay to bring county roads up to standards for mining trucks to travel on them.

When county commissioners approved the chromite mining operation, they did so on the condition Oregon Resources share the cost in upkeep of county roads it uses. The roads include not only Beaver Hill Road, but also those leading to the processing plant in Bunker Hill, including Mullen Road and Edwards Street, with Center Street and Howard Avenue as the alternate routes. The remainder of the hauling route is along U.S. Highway 101, which is under state jurisdiction.

Oregon Resources President Cheryl Wilson sent the county an impact analysis in August and is awaiting the county roadmaster’s approval. Roadmaster Kevin Stufflebean said the study, completed by URS Corp., found the county would have to make $450,000 in road repairs for existing wear and tear. Oregon Resources last offered to pay the county $200,000 per year to cover the roads, and that was not sufficient, Stufflebean said.

“The board of commissioners, at this time, said ‘no, that wouldn’t be enough,’” Stufflebean said.

The county plans to continue negotiations with Oregon Resources, according to county commissioner Nikki Whitty.

Oregon Resources has sealed its deal to purchase the Bunker Hill area property for its processing plant. The company purchased the 28-acre industrial property, the former Glenbrook Nickel Co. site, from Teck Cominco American Incorporated this month. The deed was recorded on Friday.

Oregon Resources is working on a plan to keep noise levels down since the plant will be in operation 24 hours a day. Wilson said, even though the plant will be in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the processing of the mineral sand, garnet and zircon will take place indoors, and trucks will use strobe lights when backing up, rather than beepers.

“Noise shouldn’t be an issue at all,” she said.

When Glenbrook Nickel operated a nickel ore-crushing facility there, neighbors did complain. Also, nearby Georgia-Pacific managers have worked with residents to minimize noise from the sawmill.

Wilson acknowledged that the nickel plant operations had been noisy.

“That was a number of years ago, but people have not forgotten,” Wilson said.

It’s been 20 years since planning began to create a chromite mining operation in Coos County, and Wilson said she and company shareholders are pleased to have finalized the purchase. They look forward to moving to the next stage of development involving preparation of the site for construction.

“Detailed engineering of the processing plant and facilities has been ongoing and will be completed in the first quarter of 2009,” Wilson said in a press release. “Preparation of the site for construction is set to commence shortly thereafter.”

Oregon Resources has completed soil testing in a pilot plant at the site. The soils were taken from five mining areas to be excavated on 2,000 acres of forest and mixed-use zoned land between Charleston and Bandon.

The company plans to remove 600,000 to 700,000 tons of mineral sands per year for 20 years. Once operations begin about 70 jobs will need to be filled by local people.

“These will be family-wage jobs,” Wilson said.

The project has not been without controversy. Oregon Resources originally planned to mine six pits, but dropped one that was close to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in August 2007. Later that month, the Coos County Planning Comm-ission approved conditional-use permits on both the plant and mining sites. The permit for operating the mining sites was appealed twice by neighbors in the Seven Devils area. The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals ruled in February to uphold the county’s approval and allow chromite mining.

There will be 67,000 trucks per year leaving the mining sites en route to the processing plant 19 miles away, which amounts to about 10 round trips per hour. The mining sites are under review by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, and Wilson said she expects the operating permit to be approved soon.

A spokeswoman for DOGAMI, this morning, verified the application for an operating permit is in the permitting process.